The Burt Bacharach Discussion Forum

Thanks, Bill. I'm thrilled that PROMISES is, indeed, doing extraordinarily well despite some of the poorest (and in my opinion, most unfair) reviews of the season. It continues to gross over $1m a week, which is no small feat in today's Broadway economy. The real test shall come after the stars leav...

The new pressing from Kritzerland is only of the second disc of the PROMISES release, i.e. the brand-new mix. The original LP mix was only available in the first pressing. So everybody, make sure to read very carefully when placing your order so there's no disappointment. That said, I'm really glad ...

Please see The Second Disc's review at:

http://theseconddisc.wordpress.com/2010 ... recording/

Davide, will we ever hear these WB tracks? I remain hopeful...

And my friend blue, Dionne did indeed record "Everybody's Out of Town," but I understand that an exhaustive search of the WB vaults still came up empty as to a copy.

Joe

Mark, I believe screenarchives.com and footlight.com both still have copies available at retail price. I have no connection this release, but I have to give it my highest recommendation; to anyone familiar with the album, it's like hearing it for the very first time. For those interested, I'll link ...

I was going to post comments on the new PROMISES, PROMISES cast album, but theatre critic Peter Filichia sums it up wonderfully in his column here:

http://www.masterworksbroadway.com/broa ... ises-lands

Enjoy!

It's a sad reality that no musical goes from page to stage in a short period of time, anymore. I once worked with a famous Broadway lyricist who lamented to me that 40 years ago, he'd write the show, it would be in rehearsal 6 weeks later, and open 4 weeks after that. The show I worked with him on w...

See http://theseconddisc.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/bacharach-reissued-remastered-and-remixed/ for my article on this release, and some thoughtful comments. I would encourage ordering soon, as Kritzerland's 1000-copy pressings usually sell out early. Looking forward to hearing what everyone here on th...

This duet was recorded a few years back; I'm very happy to hear it will finally see the light of day!

Burt's been in the news a lot lately! So on the occasion of his 82nd birthday, he's gotten a bit of coverage at the terrific site dedicated to expanded & remastered music news, The Second Disc. TSD's terrific webmaster Mike Duquette recently posted a look at Naked Eyes' "(There's) Always Something T...

Hal wrote quite a number of songs with Albert Hammond in the 1970s, my favorite of which is "99 Miles from LA"...just a beautiful song in every way. He also wrote lyrics for the musical BRAINCHILD to Michel Legrand's music. Unfortunately, BRAINCHILD closed out-of-town and its score was never commerc...

So glad you felt that way, Bill. While 18 musicians is in no way 30, Tunick did an exceptional, exceptional job with his new orchestrations. I can't see any Bacharach fan being disappointed by the sound of this revival, and I'm eagerly awaiting the recording!!

It's long been common practice for cast recordings to "sweeten" the pit orchestra with additional strings; I'm hoping Sony follows suit for the new PROMISES album. Seeing as how Tunick's major reduction to his orchestration was in the string department, adding some of these parts back would go a lon...

It's no surprise but still unfortunate that PROMISES was snubbed for a Best Revival nomination in favor of two long-closed shows: FINIAN'S RAINBOW and RAGTIME. This precludes the show from getting a performance slot on the broadcast, which is a certain sales boost. On the plus side, PP grossed over ...

I totally agree with you, Kyle -- as I wrote in my "review," I think the shift to 1962 is utterly pointless (and driven totally by the Mad Men connection.) But the NY critical reaction proves that more than a few people get the Mad Men connection -- almost everybody did, and will, if they see the pr...